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Black bear killed after

The Whistler RCMP were forced to kill a male black bear after it had been struck by a car and injured in the Emerald area on the morning of July 8.

The Whistler RCMP were forced to kill a male black bear after it had been struck by a car and injured in the Emerald area on the morning of July 8.

The bear climbed over the barriers by Green Lake and ran across the highway into the path of a minivan. The woman who hit the bear called the police on a cell phone and remained at the scene of the accident.

The RCMP officers determined that the bear was likely dying as a result of its injuries. It appeared to have a broken left front leg, damaged hindquarters, and was bleeding from the mouth and head.

The RCMP attempted to call in a conservation officer to put it out of its misery. Since the nearest officer was over an hour away, the job fell to RCMP Constable Jeff Loeppky.

"It wasn’t good. I hate seeing an animal in pain so it was the right thing to do," said Loeppky. "You never want to have to do something like that. It was hard picking him up off the road."

The age of the bear isn’t known, but according to Loeppky he weighed about 175 pounds (78 kilograms).

The body was then taken to the landfill site and buried to prevent poachers from attempting to reclaim any body parts.

The front bumper of the minivan was dented and there was some damage to the grill as a result of the accident, but the woman was unhurt.

It was the first bear killed by the authorities this year. Prior to conservation officers and the RCMP adopting non-lethal bear management tactics last year, between 15 and 20 problem bears were destroyed in the valley every year. Last season, just one problem bear was destroyed.